Infections caused by viral agents such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) affect a significant and growing percentage of the world's population. Several regimens have been developed for the treatment of such infections with varying success. For instance, treatments with interferon, as a single agent or in combination with ribavirin, are the only effective method known for the eradication of HCV. However, interferon can eradicate the virus only in about 33-46% of the subject population. For the rest of the subjects, it has no effect or provides only a temporary effect. Therefore, an anti-HCV drug to be used in the place of or concurrently with interferon is awaited in great expectation. Furthermore, although more treatments have been developed to date for HIV, infection with HIV continues to be a leading cause of mortality in the world. It is estimated that up to 40 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, with up to 1 million in North America alone.
So long as such viral infections affect the world's population, new and effective compounds are needed to combat their spread.